


Apocalypse Online

by Bishop_Wolf1999



Category: Highschool of the Dead, Sword Art Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:28:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7073050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bishop_Wolf1999/pseuds/Bishop_Wolf1999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I stayed up late on the night that everything came to an end.</p>
<p>It all started when I put on the nerve gear and the words, "Link Start." Little did I know that these words would be my doom.</p>
<p>Now at this very moment, I stand face to face with this death game created by a brilliant man with the wrong intentions but I plan to end this world forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I stayed up late on the night before everything came to an end.
> 
> It all started when I put on the nerve gear and said the words "Link start!"
> 
> Now at this very moment I stand face to face with the creator of this death game and I plan to kill him and end this world forever to set us all free.

Today, I sat on the stairs of one of the fire escapes near the hallway where my classroom was located. I was on my phone looking at the new trailer for the new game that was coming out, “Apocalypse Online.” The news was also going on and on about how there were so many people waiting in line for days and nights on end to get a free hard copy of the game along with the new nerve gear system that comes with it. The fact that all of this is happening is funny for me since I was one of the few who were able to beta test the game.

As I listened to the news reports I heard someone walking up from behind me. I turned to see that it was my sister, Sayo. My sister was a slim girl, with light pink hair, emerald green eyes and crème colored skin.

“God, you’re out here again? You’re so stupid; you keep coming out here to listen about some stupid game that’s coming out.” Sayo said.

I stayed silent and she continued to speak. “Takashi, you know that if you keep skipping class and continue not to take part in the school work you’ll fail. The first semester has just started, how do you even expect to make it through the year?” Sayo asked in curiosity.

“Please Sayo; I could say the same to you. The last period isn’t even over yet.” I retorted.

“It’s not going to affect me in any way by missing a few minutes of one class. Remember, I’m a genius.” Sayo snapped back.

I sighed then turned back around and leaned against the railing to out across the campus.

“You know. You’re impossible.” She said as she left back to class.

I opened up my phone and saw that they had a story going on about the creator of “Apocalypse Online,” Akihiko Kayaba, the man behind Nerve Gear and the newest VRMMORPG.

I started to notice that it was getting close to end of the day so I decided to walk to the entrance of the building.

I arrived at the school gate at exactly 2:00 p.m. which was when the bell rang and everyone started to file out of the building.

I walked through the gates to my house down the road; I reached my house in about a half hour, once I did, I went up to my room and took a nap.

* * *

 

I woke up at 4:00 p.m. and as I moved to sit up on my bed, Sayo was calling to me, saying that she was leaving to go shopping.

“Takashi! I’m heading out, I’ll be back later.” Sayo said from the front door.

I peeked out my window and saw that she left the house; I reached underneath my bed and brought out my nerve gear then placed the game disk into my computer.I placed the nerve gear on my head and lay on my bed.

I took a deep breath and closed my guys, “Link…Start!”

After me saying Link Start, my consciousness was sent through the setting options and sent me into the game.

I opened my eyes to see that I wasn’t in my room anymore but inside the game.

I smiled, “Well, I’m back.”

The moment that I warped into the world, dozens upon dozens of people also started to warp into the world of Apocalypse Online. I looked around me and saw that there were more players warping into the game around me. The sky was a pale grey with wispy clouds floating through it; I turned around and looked at the buildings and people covering the square.

The buildings were cracked and ruined but held well for people to still enter in and out of it. Now, as for the people they were either dressed in basic armor that you’re given when you first enter or they wore armor that they purchased.

I started walking through a narrow road that was packed with people looking at the stands to purchase either weapons or armor. After I came to an intersection, I started to jog down the left road. I passed dozens of people and I knew that I wanted to get outside so that I can wrestle up some early cash and XP. The area that I spawned in was huge but it was fitting given the fact that this first town is known as “The Town of Beginnings.” I kept jogging until I was stopped by someone who was following me probably for a few minutes given how breathless he seemed.

“Hey, you seem like you know this place pretty well. I tried calling out to you but you wouldn’t stop.” said the random player.

“Sorry, guess I zoned out when I was running.” I replied.

“No problem. So listen, I’m new this whole thing. Since you seemed like you knew your way around, I was wondering…if you could help me out.” He asked hesitantly.

I looked at him curiously, “Um, sure. Why not? My names, Takamuro.”

“Really? Awesome, thank you. My name is Zero.” He said introducing himself.

He shook my hand and thanked me again a couple more times before we left to the entrance of the town to go farm out in the fields.

We entered an area about 3 kilometers from the entrance. I took him to the top of a small hill because the weapon that he had was an Armalite AR-10, a battle rifle about 1118 mm long. I helped him understand the skill system about the weapons within the game.

“So, do you get the idea?” I asked.

He nodded, “I think that I got the gist of the whole thing.”

I explained that when he’s using his weapon, he has to let it charge up to activate the skill. He crouched down, looked through the scope attachment that he had and aimed it at a walker at the foot of the hill. You couldn’t see it but you could hear his bullet charging up inside the barrel of his gun then by the grin on his face, Zero knew to shoot right then and there. The bullet shot out of the gun with a loud bang and a giant puff of smoke surrounded the exit route of the barrel, the bullet hit the zombie dead center in between its eyes. A second later, the zombie’s body started to dematerialize and immediately vanished into thin air.

“Great shot!” I exclaimed as I patted him on the back.

When Zero saw his summary screen pop up, showing his rewards, amount of money he earned, and the XP he earned he flipped out in the best way possible.

“Yes! That was awesome. Thanks man.” Zero said gratefully.

“No need to thank me. It was all you man.” I replied.

“True, but I couldn’t have done it without you showing me the ropes.” He explained.

I smiled and nodded my head.

“So, do you want to go on and do some more hunting?” I asked curiously.

Zero nodded his head with vigorous enthusiasm, “Hell yeah! Let’s go.”

I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. We walked down the path and I took him deeper and we hunted in the forest about 5 kilometers from The Town of Beginnings and we farmed there for almost the whole day.

* * *

 

When I noticed the sky starting to turn a series of different shades of oranges, reds, blues and purples I ushered for Zero to come back so that we can head back since that it was getting late.

“Hey, so why’re we heading back to the town right now?” Zero asked confused.

“It’s not safe when it gets dark because at night they get more ravenous and dangerous.” I explained.

“Oh wow. Okay. Good thing I have you or else I would’ve stayed there and gotten fucked over bad by those undead meat bags.” He said.

We started to make sure to keep our voice levels to nothing more than a whisper so that we wouldn’t be found before we reached the exit of the forest. The both of us were able to reach the entrance of the forest without any problems the whole way. Once we were about 50 feet away we started talking normally.

“So, how’d you like your first hunt?” I asked.

“It was awesome. You know? Thanks again for your help, Takamuro.” He replied.

“Again, no problem.” I replied back.

Zero and I were walking down the dirt road and the both us were about 30 minutes away from the town.

He smiled and sighed, “To be honest, my mind is still blown to the fact that my mind is inside a game. It’s amazing.”

“So you never put a nerve gear on until today, huh? You know, you never forget your first dive.” I said while in a state of nostalgia.

“I can see why. But this isn’t your first dive as I recall, you admitted to being a beta tester right?” He asked with a probing demeanor.

“Yeah, but it’s not that big of a deal.” I said nonchalantly.

“Are you kidding me? Dude, only a handful of people was able to have the chance to actually be a part of that project.” Zero said while stunned in amazement.

We kept going back and forth on the topic then we stopped at the top of a hill with a view of the setting sun and the town in the distance.

“Today was amazing. Thanks to you of course.” He said happily.

“Anytime, man. So you want to head back to town and get a drink?” I asked him.

“I would but I have to log out right now. I’m so hungry.” He said as his stomach growled loudly, agreeing with the statement.

“Yeah, well that’s to be expected since the food in game only satisfies you virtually.” I explained.

“Yeah.” He replied as he stood up and opened his menu.

Zero gave me a wave goodbye and I turned around to start walking the rest of the way to the town.

“What the hell? Where did the logout button go?” Zero asked bewildered.

“What’re you talking about? It should be at the bottom of the main menu.” I said as I turned back around and opened up to my main menu as well.

When my menu opened I looked at the third option in shock. Zero was right, the logout button was gone, and it wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“See, not there.” Zero said in order to return my attention back to him.

“You’re right.” I said as I started to wonder what was going on right now.

“Well, it’s probably nothing too bad to worry about, I mean it is the first day out of Beta so there’s bound to be a bug or two that they didn’t account for when processing the game.” Zero said trying to make the situation a little better.

“You could be right but if that’s true and it is a bug causing this then the developers could shut down the server and log everyone out.” I explained.

We looked at each other in confusion. I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t doing exactly what I explained when they could easily do it at this very moment. I looked back at Zero and he was trying to contact the GM.

“Has he answered?” I asked curiously.

“No, he hasn’t. I’ve tried at least three times right now.” He said becoming slightly irritated.

I turned away for a moment and the bell in the tower at the town rang a loud bellowing sound. The moment that we heard the ringing, Zero was becoming engulfed in a bright light and at that exact moment I was engulfed in the same light.

After the light had disappeared, we were in the very center of The Town of Beginnings in a small courtyard. The space was filled with all of the other players that had logged in on this day for the first time.

The whole crowd including me was looking around in total confusion of what was happening.

“ _Who forced a teleport of all the players here?_ ” I thought to myself.

I looked up at the sky and I saw a red blinking spot in the sky. The red spot then started to spread across the sky until there was nothing left of the multi-colorful sky. In that instant, blood started to spill from the sky and gather together in the middle of the air forming into a giant crimson robe.

“Good day to you, Players.” Said the mysterious figure.

“ _What the hell? What’s going on?_ ” I thought to myself.

“Today, you start the path to survive or die. You have all probably noticed that the logout button isn’t where it would normally be located but let it be known that this is no defect or mistake, this is how Apocalypse Online was meant to be played.” The cloaked man explained.

“ _What does he mean? This doesn’t make sense._ ” I continued as I let my mind roam with multiple questions that were still not answered.

“You’re probably all curious as to why I, Akihiko Kayaba, would do this. Why would he trap all of us here in the game that he made? Because I wanted to make a place where there were no rules and limitations, a world of pure survival and risk.” Kayaba said as he continued explaining.

“Takamuro, what’s going?” Zero asked.

“Unless all of you are able to beat all of the bosses in the game you will never be able to leave. While you are in the game you are not able to remove the nerve gear. Today so far the game is already 1,000 players short compared to when it started.” Kayaba explained.

He opened up news broadcasts in the air for us to that the death toll was being reported on multiple different networks.

“The reason for this toll is that the families of the unlucky ones tried to remove the nerve gear from the player’s heads which in turn destroyed their brain. In order for you to leave you must defeat the game but if someone removes your nerve gear or your HP drops to zero then your avatar will then become a zombie to the game and your mind will simultaneously be destroyed.” Akihiko explained.

Everyone in the courtyard looked at Kayaba in shock and awe. We were all confused by these turn of events, we all logged into this game just to enjoy the new game that came out along with the new full dive system but we weren’t expecting this. I looked at Kayaba not in shock or horror but with anger and determination that I will beat his game and get back to the real world.

“As a gift, I’ve placed a small gift in each of your inventories in the menu.” Kayaba said as we all accessed our inventory.

I opened up to my items, “ _A mirror?_ ” I thought curiously.

I looked into the pocket sized and saw my avatar’s face. I heard Zero panic slightly, “What’s happening?”

I turned to see that he was being engulfed in another column of light, “Zero!”

As soon as I tried to reach him a bright column of light started to consume me just like before.

A couple of seconds passed while I was in the light then it disappeared, “What the hell happened?”

“Hey Takamuro, are you alright?” a familiar voice asked.

I turned around to see Zero but I turned around and saw there was someone there but he was a bit shorter than Zero. The guy had the same hair color and eye color.

I looked around and realized that everyone was starting to look confused when they looked at the people they thought they knew and they weren’t then it clicked and I looked back to the shorter teen, “Zero?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What happened to us?” Zero asked completely confused to the whole situation.

I looked back towards Kayaba and started to think how he could have done this but again it clicked for me, “ _It’s the nerve gear’s scanning process._ ”

“Takamuro, what’s happening right now? Why don’t we look like our avatars?” he asked frantically.

I pointed towards the giant floating robe in the sky, “Most likely he used Admin controls to access our nerve gear data and used that data to make our avatars look like our real life selves.”

“What? He can do that?” Zero frantically asked.

“Yeah, he can. That’s power I guess of being the Admin of this type of game with the nerve gear.” I said thoughtfully.

“Now that I’ve described and explained everything this now marks the end of the tutorial. Good luck, players.” Akihiko Kayaba exclaimed.

As he finished his sentence his entire body started to disparate into smoke. The moment the smoke was completely gone and the sky returned to its original color, everything fell silent. The whole courtyard was silent and still, no one moved because they were paralyzed with fear and shock.

“ _This world is no longer a game, it’s a hell that we all sentenced ourselves towards the moment we put on the nerve gear. I know that this isn’t some joke or bug because everything that Akihiko explained to us made total sense so I know that everything he just told us was the truth._ ” I thought to myself as my hands started to ball into fists without me knowing.

I was pulled back to reality when I heard a girl in the crowd scream and cry out in fear which in turn brought everyone back all at once, anger and fear started to fill the cramped courtyard. I looked towards the exit and noticed the barrier that was holding us in here disappeared; I grabbed Zero and ran with him through the crowd and out the exit. We ran and ran until we were safe in an alleyway.

“Listen, Zero, I’m heading out now to the next town over and I want you to come with me. I can trust you.” I said simply.

He looked at me with an unsure look, “Listen, thanks but I think that I’m going to be going on my own from here on out. Thanks for all the help but I need to go on my own so that I can improve by myself.” Zero explained.

I looked at him with a surprised look, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He confirmed.

“If you’re sure, then alright. Good luck to you then.” I said as I gave him a high five.

“Thanks man. You too.” He said.

“You know if you’re ever in trouble, message me, okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course.” He confirmed.

I gave him one last high five then started down the alleyway towards the entrance of the town. I reached the doorway out of town within 15 minutes roughly; I looked out into the open valley beyond the giant door then began to run again.

“I will stop this world! I’ll stop Akihiko Kayaba! I’ll destroy it all!” I yelled.

I could see a zombie spawning ahead of me and I opened my items and summoned a bat with nails hammered into it. I started to run full throttle towards the walker.

“I’ll kill you all!” I yelled as I slammed my bat full force against the undead creatures’ skull.

I stood up after destroying the monster with one shot and looked up to the sky and sighed then faced the setting sun.

“Bring it on.”


	2. The Undead Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I took so long with the new update for those of you who have read it so far and liked it but here it is and enjoy.
> 
> I hope you like the new chapter.
> 
> In profile if you have looked at it, please leave a comment if you like so that I can see if there is anything I can improve on or if there was something that you liked.

“Die!” I screamed as I ran towards a walker and slammed my shotgun into its mouth, blowing its head off sending it flying through the air.

The moment the zombie vanished from the world like every other NPC, the win summary popped up showing the XP that I earned and the items that I gained from defeating the creature in combat. I closed it out and began my walk back to the town that I been staying at; it began to get dark a little more quickly so I picked up the pace and started to jog. I was about to reach the exit of the forest that I was hunting in when I was tackled by an undead, it was a player avatar that had died. I tried to punch it off of me but it bit into my arm and wouldn’t let go.

“Get off of me!” I yelled through grit teeth as I used my other arm to launch a sucker punch and it worked.

I looked at my arm and saw the highlighted area of where the walker had bit me on my arm.

I tried to reach for some pills to replenish my health but at that moment I realized that I ran out when I was hunting the whole morning and afternoon, “Shit! I’m out!”

As I was arming myself with a steel bat to defend myself, the one zombie that was there a moment ago was now a hoard of zombies wanting to devour me.

“I won’t die to you undead fuckers!” I screamed as I ran straight into the hoard to kill them all.

I ended in the middle of a circle that the hoard had created and I was about to start bashing their skulls in so that I can get out of here and get back to the town but the zombies beat me to it and ran to me and started eating my digital flesh.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! No, I can’t die!” I screamed and thrashed before the walkers overwhelmed me.

The next thing I saw was the “You Are Dead” screen before I jolted awake to meet the blinding the sun with my unadjusted eyes. I slammed the blinds closed on the window and I looked around the dark room and saw my shotgun next to my bed, my steel bat in the corner and the dark brown coat that I bought a couple days ago on a chair at the foot of my bed.

I looked down at my hands and thought to myself, “ _I can’t believe that it’s been four months since this digital hell began._ ”

I left the inn that I was staying at after I grabbed my coat and put my weapons back in my inventory. I started walking towards a small rundown theatre where a guy was trying to make a raid group by drawing in players to try and beat the Floor 1 boss.

I stopped by a medical shop in order to pick up some pills and syringes before I went to go and see if this meet for the raid was going to be worth it.

I walked into the little shop then walked up to the counter, “What can I help you for?”

“I’m here to pick up some pills and some health syringes.” I replied to the NPC shopkeeper.

“How many would you like?” asked the shopkeeper.

“I’ll take 7 pill bottles and 12 health syringes.” I replied.

“That’ll be 500 silver.” the NPC asked.

“500? Shit, that’s a lot but it’s worth it.” I said as I accepted the price and transferred the amount to the shop NPC.

The moment that the items were transferred into my inventory I left the shop and continued to the theatre.

“ _I hope that this thing is for real._ ” I thought to myself.

I arrived at the meet location within 15 minutes; I arrived 5 minutes before they started which I was glad about that way I could find a good seat. The guy who drew our attention to come and meet him stepped out from behind the curtains onto the stage and introduced himself, “Hi, my name is Igashi.”

In a slight unison we all said hello back to him from the seats in the audience.

“So, you all know why we’ve come here. Today, I had a recon group reach the top of the tower and guess what they found?” he asked to us all.

Everyone started to mumble throughout the auditorium then all of us stopped talking when Igashi raised his hand to have us quiet down.

“When they came back to inform me of what they found, I knew that I had to set up this meet. The recon team…found the boss room at the top of the tower.” He said as we all started to mumble and gasp altogether.

“Quiet down, quiet down. Now listen, I understand that everyone is shocked and excited but now we need to come up with a plan in order to take down the boss.” He explained as we started to listen closely to his words.

Igashi pulled out a small, rough looking notebook, “Inside this notebook is all the information on the Floor 1 boss.”

The entirety of us all looked to Igashi in order to continue to listen to the information that he had to give, “Now, the boss’s name is General Skullcracker. The boss has four health bars and carries a 39 mm AK-74 then when his health reaches zero, he’ll switch over to two dual Desert Eagles.”

I looked around to see that everyone started to murmur and mumble to each other, I started to think that some of them were starting re-think the whole idea of joining the raid.

“ _To be honest, if some of them leave that makes it easier to level up and I’ll be closer to beating this game._ ” I thought while Igashi continued his briefing.

“Okay, so another tip is that since he changes weapons, he also changes his attack patterns.” Igashi explained.

“Since we’re all going up against the Floor 1 boss, we need a plan of action and the way I see it, we should split into parties of five. A standard raid group or individual players won’t cut it, so we need to have multiple groups within a giant raid group.” Igashi continued.

I looked up at Igashi with shock and thought to myself, “ _Parties of five? You’ve got to be kidding me._ ”

I looked around and started to see that people were starting to talk with each other and form parties as Igashi explained, “ _I guess they’re not chickening out after all._ ”

I looked around and around and everyone was already in their respected groups then I noticed one player who was holed up in the back of the auditorium, so I stood from my seat and went to sit next to the cloaked player.

I sat a seat away from the unknown player to not be rude or anything, “So, did you get left out too? Or did you stay away by choice?”

The player shook their head and when the player spoke, their voice was soft and melancholic and instantly I knew the player was a girl, “No, I didn’t get left out. Everyone seemed like they knew each other already so I kept to myself.”

I looked at the girl curiously, “So? You’re a solo player too, huh?”

The girl shrugged.

“Well listen, do you want to form a party?” I asked as the female player looked at me curiously from beneath her hood.

“You heard what the guy said. We can’t do it by ourselves and since we’re each other’s only option I say we form a party.” I explained as she nodded her head.

I opened my menu and sent a party request to the girl. The moment that she received it, she accepted the request. Once our party was formed, her name and HP gauge appeared under my own HP gauge.

I looked at her name and repeated it in my mind, “ _Rei._ ”

“Alright, is everyone teamed up? Awesome. Now that we’ve gotten all of this set up, I think we’re done for today.” Igashi announced.

The moment that Igashi had finished his statement, the doors were kicked in by an average built guy.

“Hold up now!” the new guy announced.

We all looked back towards the person who stood in the doorway then he started to walk down the aisle to the stage.

“Before you guys decide to pack up and go home, I’d like to make an announcement to all of you!” the player said as he continued on with his speech.

“Hey, who exactly are you?” Igashi questioned.

“The name is Tsunoda, you got a problem with that?” the guy retorted.

“No, but can you try to relax? We’re all here to come together in order to defeat the boss.” Igashi explained.

“Yeah? Well, I don’t give a shit. I came here so that I could explain to you idiots that you might want to re-think the people that you’re partnering up with.” Tsunoda announced.

The theatre started to fill up with whispers and murmurs most likely people wondering what this guy was talking about.

“Now that I have your attention. You guys all know about the 100 beta testers that joined the game, right? Well, those exact beta testers have been taking everything. They took all the good hunting areas to level up fastest and stole all of the easy quests as well.” Tsunoda explained.

Once Tsunoda explained the bit of information that he had to say, everyone started to grow suspicious of each other around them and I started to get nervous.

“Just as a little side tip, I’d check on who you teamed up with because they’re might be a slight chance that they might be a beta tester.” Tsunoda said to everyone in the audience.

When Tsunoda finished what he had to say he jumped off of the stage and started to walk back up the aisle to the exit and left the building, leaving everyone suspicious and scared.

“Alright, listen everyone. We can’t let that guy get to us. We all came together today in order to team up and defeat the Floor 1 boss. We came together so that we could make a difference in this game and bring some hope to beat this game.” Igashi explained to everyone.

Once Igashi finished, everyone came back to their senses and everything was fixed. The moment that I completely calmed down, Rei got up and left the theatre.

A couple of minutes passed and I got up and left the theatre when everyone started leaving.

“ _I wonder if I should go hunting or if I should try and go find some new gear._ ” I asked myself in my head.

I decided that I’d take a break and head to shops in order to try to find some new gear so that I can be better prepared in the boss fight tomorrow.

* * *

I arrived back to the town within 15 minutes exactly the amount of time it took to get to the theatre. I entered a shop right next to the threshold of the town; it was specifically meant for armor after I finished there I’d head over to the weapon shop down the street.

“Welcome, what can I do for you?” the NPC shopkeeper asked.

I walked up towards the counter and the shop window opened up; I scrolled through the different armor options.

“Let me think, what exactly would be good to buy to use at the boss fight?” I asked myself as I continued through the list.

I looked through the list more and more then after about 5 minutes of looking, I found a few different things that I believe would be best. One of the items that I found was a set of glove that had small metal plates across the back of the palm and the fingers along with mini spikes on the knuckles. I chose the items that I wanted and I paid for them.

“Thanks for coming.” The shopkeeper told me as I walked out the shop.

I walked down the road and went to the weapon shop next to see if I could find any new guns or melee weapons in stock that I could buy for the boss battle.

I entered the store and noticed that this store wasn’t run by an NPC but rather a player, “Welcome to my shop. What can I do for you today?”

“Hi, just looking around for some new shit.” I told the guy as I looked through the pistol section of his store.

After a couple minutes of looking through the moderately sized section I found a set of dual Beretta 92 pistols.

Once I finished browsing around, I walked over to the counter, “Alright, I found everything I need.”

“Great. Let’s see what we got here: Dual Beretta 92, military grade chest armor, 10 Beretta clips and a carbon fiber bat. I like your taste.” Said the player.

“Thanks. So, what’s the damage?” I asked curiously.

The player rang up the price on the payment window, “The price comes out at 1,500 silver.”

“1,500 silver? That’s pretty cheap.” I said as I accepted the price and transferred the amount over to shop owner.

“Yeah, I mean I don’t see much point in pricing my items at such high prices. I’m only trying to help ya’ll out not bankrupt you lot.” The player explained.

“Cool. Thanks a lot. My name is Takamuro.” I said.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Alex and no problem at all.” he said.

I shook his hand then doubled checked to make sure that the items I bought were in my inventory and they were. I sent him a friend request then left the shop to go back to the Inn that I stayed at to sleep another night there. The moment that I stepped outside, I noticed that the sun was already setting on the horizon so started walking straight to the Inn.

I was about to turn to the corner ahead of me to be in front of the Inn but before I could I saw a shadow in an alley so I decided to go after it to see who it was. I followed and followed then I ended up on the roof of a house and saw the figure on the other side looking up at the sun before it was sunk underneath the horizon.

“You like the sunset?” I asked the stranger.

The player turned around and I noticed that it was the same cloaked player from the boss raid meeting earlier today, “Yes, I do. You’re the guy from before, the one I made a party with.”

“Yeah. So, how come you’re up here?” I asked as I walked closer then took a seat next to the player and she moved away a couple of inches.

“I came up here because it had the best view of the sunset.” She replied.

I nod slightly, “That makes sense.”

We both looked at the sun slowing descending down the sky which started to transcend from the multi-colored rays to the dark starry sky of the cool night.

“You know that you shouldn’t be out around this time.” I said.

“What do you mean?” She asked confusedly.

“You mean that you don’t know? Well, I can explain it to you back at the Inn? Alright?” I asked.

She nodded then stood up with me and we jumped off the roof onto the street, we made it to the Inn in about 3 minutes. We took up seats at a small bar in a room next to the check in area.

“So, what’s this whole thing about not being out during the night that you said earlier?” she asked.

“Alright. Well, the thing is that in this world when night time comes the towns aren’t protected but the houses, shops, and Inns are still protected.” I explained.

“I still don’t understand.” She said.

“Basically, when night time comes zombies are able to walk through the towns and if they found you then they can kill you. So as long as you get inside before and during night time then you’re safe.” I explained more in depth as a waitress brought us something to drink.

“So you’re saying that the towns aren’t safe at night?!” She exclaimed at the same time as she stood up in shock.

“Calm down. Yes, that’s right.” I said.

She sat back down in her seat and we both took a sip from our drinks. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before she stood up again.

“Well, thanks for the advice and tips.” She said as she started to walk to the room that she apparently rented here as well, “Also, thanks for the drink.”

I smiled and stayed in the little bar for about 10 more minutes before I paid for our drinks and went up to my room as well for the night. I walked up the staircase to my room down the hall on the right hand side. I walked in and sat on my bed.

“ _Man, today was eventful. Firstly, I go to a raid meet up and it’s interrupted by some douche. Secondly, I start a party with someone that I don’t even know. Finally, I end up teaching my party member how the night time system works for this game._ ” I thought as I mulled things over in my head.

I placed my bat, shotgun and coat in the placement that I had them last night. Once I scanned the room to make sure everything was in their proper place and all the protection measures were fine, I laid on my bed tired from all that happened today.

“Tomorrow is the day. The day when we finally make a difference for the people trapped in this game with us.” I said as my eyes closed and I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up the next morning around 7:00 a.m. then sat up and moved to the edge of my bed.

“Today is the day that we finally fight back” I said as I gathered my coat, shotgun and bat into my inventory.

I started to unequip the items that I had on and I started to equip all of my new stuff that I bought the day before.

I opened up a list of the items that I had recently bought and I started equip them. I started to click through all of my new items and after about 5 minutes of equipping, I was fully set up for the boss battle today. I walked up to a moderately sized mirror on the wall opposite me and revised what I was wearing.

The armor that I equipped was a pair of black jeans, black combat boots, grey t-shirt, military chest armor, a leather jacket, a dual pistol holster, and the pair of metal plated spiked gloves. Now, the weapons that I have are the dual set of Beretta 92 pistols holstered at my sides, my Ithaca M37 strapped around across my back, and the carbon fiber bat gripped tightly within my hand.

“Time to go.” I said to myself in the mirror and left my room.

I walked out of my room and downstairs to the front to pay for the two nights that I stayed there. I arrived downstairs to be greeted by a familiar figure; it was Rei, the girl that I formed a party with yesterday.

“Well, good morning.” I said from the base of the stairs to the counter.

Rei looked over to me still within her cloak that she’s worn ever since I’ve met her. I walked over to her and held out my hand.

“Let’s do our best today and take down the boss so that we can bring hope to leaving this world.” I said.

The hooded girl looked at me hesitantly then nodded her head and took my hand in hers, “You got it.”

We both paid for our rooms and the nights that we stayed there then left to meet up with the raid group at the entrance of the forest that surrounded the tower. Rei and I walked in silence; we arrived around 12 minutes after we left the town. We stood side by side and looked around at the other players then what I saw surprised me quite a bit.

“Alex?!” I yelled.

Alex turned around then smiled when he saw me and walked over to us, “Hey, I didn’t think that I see you here. I see you’re armed with the weapons I sold you.”

I nodded with a smirk, “Yep. I had to for this kind of occasion, but what’re you doing here? I didn’t think that you were the fighting type.”

“Don’t judge me on perspective. I knew about the whole raid thing but I’m in on it for the items so that I can sell them to players who aren’t strong enough to fight these battles.” He said as we all started the hike to the tower.

As we all walked through the forest, we all remained silent so that we wouldn’t attract any unnecessary attention before we arrived at the tower. The entirety of us all remained quiet until we finally arrived at the tower entrance after about 45 minutes.

“Here we are men. The moment that we step through this door to fight our way to the boss, it’ll be the first step to beating this world.” Igashi announced.

Igashi pushed opened the doors into hell and we all launched ourselves straight through the doors into that tower of death.

* * *

The fight to get to the boss room was brutal and harsh but I and the entire raid group made it to the entrance in one piece.

“Alright, everyone. Listen we’ve been fighting for a good long while, since this area by the door is a safe zone we’ll rest here for a while.” Igashi told us.

We all took a load off to rest like Igashi said and all of us took up a different place. Alex, Rei, and I took up a spot next to the door. I looked around the giant space then someone caught my eye and I was sickened immediately.

I groaned silently, “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What’s wrong partner?” Alex asked.

I pointed in the direction to what was bugging me and Rei instantly knew why I was so annoyed.

Rei scooted closer to me and whispered to me in my ear, “Isn’t that the guy that barged into and nearly wrecked the raid meeting yesterday?”

I nodded slightly to her.

“Would you both like to fill me in on what’s going on?” Alex asked curiously.

I pointed deeper into the crowd to Tsunoda, “The guy over there surrounded by those idiots is called Tsunoda and he crashed the raid meeting today and warning us about something and he almost ruined the raid for everyone.”

Alex looked at Tsunoda with a confused look, “For real?”

“Yeah, he sucks. And yet, here he is at the raid that he almost destroyed.” I explained.

The three of us sat there quietly and after about 9 minutes of a break, Igashi stood in the middle of all of us and brought our attention, “Alright, everyone. Listen up; today we’ve all came here today to make a difference. Now, let’s win.”

When Igashi finished he walked to the door and pushed open the doors then he and the rest of us slowly walked into the ginormous dark room. Once we all were inside, we saw crimson red orbs on the other side of the room then the room filled with bright light and glimmering colors. We looked back to the boss and once we did then the boss jumped from where he was to land 100 feet away from us.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” screamed the giant undead boss.

The moment the boss screamed then so many minor walkers came through the ground. The moment about a dozen walkers appeared out of the ground then the boss set them on us.

“Alright, charge!” Igashi exclaimed as we all charged forward into the undead battle.

“AAAAAAAAAAGH!” is what we all screamed as gunfire met rotten flesh.

* * *

We all kept fighting and fighting, it had been a half hour since the battle had begun but we were going to beat the boss soon enough. The boss’s health was on its last bar.

“Okay, Delta squad keep up retaliation fire to block out his shots! Alfa squad, stay behind and be ready to switch in! Echo squad; keep those zombies off our asses!” Igashi ordered.

“You got it!” I yelled back as I jumped into the air and slammed my bat into the head of an undead, “Switch out with me!”

Rei came up in front of me and stabbed another walker in the chest then kicked it off and stabbed it through the head into the floor sending shards of the floor through the air.

“Raaagh!” The boss screamed as frontal assault team was able to get that monsters HP down into the red.

The boss threw his AK behind him all the way back to his throne destroying it making it nothing more than a pile of rubble.

“Let’s finish it off!” one of the players said from one of the other raid groups.

“No! Leave it to me! I got this!” Igashi yelled.

“ _What? I thought the plan was to group together and take it down all together._ ” I thought as I shot two shots into a walkers head with my Berettas.

Rei switched out with me and I looked to see that Igashi was running head long into the fray armed with a steel bat then the boss reached behind itself and pulled out two IMI Uzi submachine guns instead of the Desert Eagles.

“ _Those are Uzi submachine guns. This isn’t anything like the Beta._ ” I thought confusedly.

The boss turned the Uzi’s sideways then ran straight to Igashi with full speed, “Igashi! Run!”

Igashi looked back at me then the boss started to shoot Igashi with multiple shots per second.

“AAAAAAAAAAGH!” Igashi screamed as he was sent flying from the high speed shots.

I ran to go help Igashi while the rest of the group began dodging the shots and trying to give back return fire. I got to Igashi then dug around in my pouch and pulled out a health syringe, “Dude, what were you thinking trying to take the boss head on?”

Igashi grabbed my wrist before I could put the needle into his vain in the crook of his elbow, “So, you were a beta tester too?”

“Too? You were a beta tester? So, that means that you were after the last attack item and XP weren’t you?” I questioned as I put away the syringe.

“Listen, I want to ask you for a favor to ask you.” Igashi said.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked with my head held low with my hair over my eyes.

“What I want you to do is use it to smash my head so that those minion bastards can’t eat me and turn me into one of those undead fuckers.” Igashi asked as he started slip away.

“Is that what you really want?” I asked hesitantly.

“Alright.” I laid Igashi on the floor and stood up, “You were a great guy, and I just wanted to let you know that.”

I brought my bat into my hands and held it tightly then brought it over my head, “Thank you for doing this for me.”

“You’re welcome. Rest in peace.” I said as I slammed my bat right through his head sending the digital blood across the floor.

I looked around and a lot of people saw what I did but they knew that it wasn’t the time to turn on each other. Rei soon came up next to me while I looked at the boss with murderous intent.

“Let’s take it down?” She asked as I gripped my bat until I could feel my knuckles turn white underneath my gloves.

“Hell yeah! Let’s do it!” I yelled as I started running towards the boss with full speed.

“So, what’s the plan?” Rei asked when she caught up to me.

“Same plan like when we were hitting the grunts.” I said with confidence.

“You got.” She agreed.

We got right up to the boss and the boss immediately shot two rapid shots at us but I hit them instantly with my bat sending them flying to opposite sides of the room. I jumped mid-air and slammed my bat right across the bosses face.

“Switch out!” I yelled as Rei jumped mid-air right past me.

The moment she was about to strike with her spear the boss opened its eyes to reveal the red orbs, “Rei!”

She heard me and dodged the bosses incoming shot but it caught her cloak and it destroyed the piece if armor. The moment her cloak was gone I could see her tan-white skin and flowing sunset orange hair.

I looked back to the boss and saw that it was getting back up, “He’s coming back!”

I ran back towards the boss with my bat and jumped to slam my bat down on his head but then the boss moved his Desert Eagle and shot it. I moved slightly but still got a brunt of the shot and went flying backwards into Rei.

I opened my eyes to see that my health was so close to me dying. I looked up and saw that the boss was aiming his shot right at us then shot three rapid shots at us from his one gun. The world went slow for 10 minutes then everything sped back up then the bosses shots exploded approximately 15 feet from not causing us any damage and I looked back to see Alex with a high powered rifle, a Heckler & Koch PSG-1.

“The rest of us will hold him off until you can heal up your health!” Alex yelled as he fired two more shots into the boss’s chest.

I grabbed a full heal syringe and placed the needle into my large vein then plunged the fluid into my arm and it spread through my body.

I stood up and looked on at the boss, “AAAAAAAAAAAUGH!”

I ran straight to the boss with no hesitation and jumped straight up into the air then slammed my bat right down the center of the boss’ forehead. I landed on my feet then continuously smashed my bat across its head and I jumped off the boss’ head and into the air near the roof.

“Time for you to die!” I screamed as I pulled my shotgun from behind me and aimed the barrel in between its eyes.

I lay straight while falling then powered up my shot and pulled the trigger. The shot from my barrel blasted out and destroyed the boss’ head sending out digital blood across the air. The moment that I landed on my feet the boss fight ended and everyone started to gain the XP, money and items that they earned. I was on the other side of the room on one knee and I saw that the final attack bonus screen showed that The Coat of Midnight was mine.

“You know that was some fine fighting skills my friend.” Alex said congratulating me.

I sighed, “Yeah, thanks.”

I stood up then opened my menu and equipped the boss item, “I’m going to be leaving now.”

I started walking away and I reached the top of the staircase to the door but before I could go through the door, Rei stopped me.

“Hey. Listen, when we were fighting the boss you said my name.” She said.

“Yeah, sorry. Did I say it wrong or something?” I asked.

“How did you even know it? I didn’t tell you my name at any point in time.” She said.

“You really don’t know much but when you join a party there should be an HP gauge right underneath your own.” I said as I pointed to the location where the second gauge would be placed.

She squinted her eyes slightly and looked at my gauge underneath hers, “Taka-muro. Takamuro? Your names Takamuro.”

“Listen, you’re strong so if someone wants you to join them then do so.” I said as I kept walking.

“No. The thing is that I want to stay in a party with you.” She said.

I turned then smirked, “I’m guessing that I’m not going to be able change your mind, aren’t I?”

“Yep.” She said as she walked up right next to me.

I slowly shook my head, “Fine. Come on then.”

Rei and I started the walk through the gate and the day ended with the death of a great guy but the survival of all of us and the hope to keep beating this game.


End file.
